That's a great quote!

"What are people saying?"

In Kathmandu—

+++ About 94% of all the surveyed road stretches has no existing facilities for persons with disabilities.

Respondents consider improvement of pedestrian facilities for persons with disabilities a PRIORITY.

+++ 46% said that the situation of existing infrastructures in the city is in its worst condition.

No observed consistency in design in terms of width, height, and continuity of footpaths or road-crossings.

Number of footpaths just a meter wide, forcing the pedestrians to use the main roads.

Other amenities such as lamp post and greenery occupy the footpaths and existing guard rails are in poor state.

+++ Almost 80% of the stakeholders and government respondents said that there are no clear laws on jaywalking, traffic calming and roadside advertisements.

With the current state of Kathmandu's pedestrian network, pedestrians become even more vulnerable to road accidents—

The Metropolitan Traffic Police data reveals that the total accident for the year 2065 to 2066 (Nepali Calendars) accounts for 2,765 in which the total fatality is 137; the total number of seriously injured is 720 and minor injuries reported is 2,448.

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Preliminary results for Kathmandu walkability survey can be accessed here: http://cleanairinitiative.org/portal/node/2998

For more on the Walkability Study in Asian Cities, visit:
http://cleanairinitiative.org/portal/node/1470

Sustainable transport is a concept, an ideology and, in some countries, a governmental policy that consists of strengthening or replacing the current transport systems of an urban suburban area with more fuel efficient, space-saving and healthy lifestyle-promoting alternatives. The term refers to any means of transport with low impact on the environment, and includes human or animal muscle-powered vehicles, low-carbon fueled vehicles, any kind of vehicle using a renewable source of energy for its propulsion. The most common usage of green transport is walking. A common form of green transport vehicles are hybrid vehicles. Hybrid vehicles use an internal combustion engine combined with an electric engine. Biofuel powered vehicles use fuels derived from plant sources, such as vegetable oil, biodiesel, or bioalcohol for their propultion
I am a student of security+ certification and i am so much specialties in the network solution's..

If we want to participate in the survey for the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, What do we have to do.

Please get in touch with Aqib, our country coordinator in Pakistan. You can contact him at Mohammad(dot)AqibUddin(at)iucn(dot)org and cc me at bert(dot)fabian(at)cai-asia(dot)org

We're building our webpages on walkability and will soon provide more information about the walkability surveys and how these were done.

Hi all,

We are trying to make a video on Walkability for BAQ and training / outreach purpose. We are trying to find some good statistics and quotes which capture the challenges faced by the pedestrian.

Please help us in finding more statistics and quotes for the script of the video.

In case you would like to access the links and more sources.. please click - http://transport-solutions.blogspot.com/2010/07/statistics-and-quotes-on-walkability.html

Our Walkability in Asian cities results are available here - http://cleanairinitiative.org/portal/system/files/Bert_Fabian_CAI-Asia_Walkability_27MayFinal.pdf

Here are few quotes and statistics collected so far

1. In Sri Lanka, at least 1/10th of space of all roads within urban areas provided exclusively for non-motorized transport such as for sidewalks for walking and bicycle lanes (Action Plan for Traffic Management in Greater Colombo (2008))
2.  In Jakarta, people with disabilities must wear special signs that are visible to motorists - (Article 132 (3)) of Traffic and Road Transport Act of Indonesia 
   
3. 40% of the total Road Length of Delhi has no Sidewalks- RITES Transport Demand Forecast Study: May 2008 
4. Nearly half of fatal accidents in Delhi involve – pedestrians - Walkability Roundtable, Centre for Science and Environment, July 2009 
5. Nearly half of fatal accidents in Philippines and Bangladesh involve pedestrians - World Health Organization (WHO, 2009) 
6. Benefit-cost ratio of replacing the underground crossings with surface crossings is 7.6:1 – Transport for London 
7. 68% of countries in the world don’t have national or local level policies that promote walking and cycling - World Health Organization (WHO, 2009) 
8. In Bangalore, three pedestrians are killed on roads every other day and more than 10,000 are hospitalized annually- Deccan herald 
9. Children under ten years old are the most vulnerable pedestrian group in Thailand - Asian Institute of Technology 
10. 50% of people don’t use skywalks since it involves climbing, descending and long detour - D Sanyal, Bangalore Transportation Summit 
    
11. In Hong Kong only 13.5% of households have access to private vehicles – 2002, Transport Department 
    
12. In Hong Kong, 49% of people don’t walk due to unsuitable weather – 2002, Transport Department 
    
13. In Fushun, 58% of the survey respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that cars do not slow down at marked midblock crossings - Wendy Tao 
    

Other quotes

1. “Restore human legs as a means of travel. Pedestrians rely on food for fuel and need no special parking facilities.” - Lewis Mumford quotes (American Writer, 1895-1990)
2. Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time. ~Steven Wright
3. No city should be too large for a man to walk out of in a morning. ~Cyril Connolly
4. Thoughts come clearly while one walks. ~Thomas Mann
5. Walking: the most ancient exercise and still the best modern exercise. ~Carrie Latet
6. Don't let people drive you crazy when you know it's in walking distance. ~Author Unknown
7. All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking. - Friedrich Nietzsche
8. "It is solved by walking." - Latin Proverb
9. "Every trip starts and ends on foot" - ~Author Unknown
10. improving walkability entails improvement not only in the physical infrastructure but equally in the minds of people - CAI-Asia (2010)
11. Walking has important social benefits as well. More people walking on the streets is a signal that an area is safe and interesting. A prominent characteristic of vital urban neighborhoods is their vibrant pedestrian street life (Jacobs, 1961).
12. Man is first and foremost a pedestrian ~Author Unknown

Sudhir,

I attach a nice historical article on motorization and walking in Canada. It has a great quote by the Premier of Ontaria: " The pedestrian has the first right of road. The chauffeur who thinks that, because he gives warning of his approach, he is entitled to the road is utterly and entirely wrong. he comes after the pedestrian and even after the man on the bicycle. It is not the pedestrian who must get out of the way of the automobile, but the automobile that must get out of the way of the pedestrian, even if he is standing still".

This is from 2010

Dear all,

Please take a couple of minutes to answer CAI-Asia's short survey on walkability.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/walkability

We would also appreciate it if you can forward the link to your contacts.

Thanks in advance!

CAI-Asia is conducting a web survey. Your responses are important to us. As part of our Walkability program we are carying out this online survey on pedestrian facilities and needs. Please help us by filling up the survey and passing it on.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/walkability

Please take few minutes and answer the questions...

thanks

For those based in the Philippines, please join the Kamayan Forum on September 17, 10:30am-2:00pm at Kamayan-EDSA (near SEC/Ortigas Avenue, Mandaluyong City). Topic of discussion: 'Walkable, Bikeable Cities.' All are invited, free of charge.
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People, Not Cars
Walking and Cycling for Cleaner Air

Vehicles dominate cityscapes. Roads, fly-overs, and bridges are continually being put up to accommodate the ever-increasing number of land transport. This rapid motorization in urban areas has led to air pollution and road risks. For pedestrians who are most vulnerable, is there enough attention towards non-motorized transport?

Walking and cycling are two modes of transportation that rely on our own kinetic energy, rather than on fossil fuels on which most vehicles are dependent. For commuters such as students and workers, walking and cycling are good for health and for the pocket. The daily cost of fares put a great burden on a family’s budget and therefore, in a developing country, walking and cycling are the most viable options.

In this coming forum, on Sept. 17, the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities will showcase the results of the Walkability Survey in selected Asian cities supported by the Asian Development Bank and Fredskorpset-Norway.

The project attempts to understand pedestrian needs and integrate them into the ideal of livable cities. The ‘Walkability Survey’ involved a scoring system that rated the following parameters: availability of walking paths, walking path modal conflicts, availability of crossings, grade crossing safety, motorists behavior, amenities, disability infrastructure, and security from crime. Another component of the study was pedestrian survey to determine travel behavior and improvements desired.

Brief case studies from Male (Maldives), Kathmandu and Bhaktapur (Nepal), and Colombo (Sri Lanka) are going to be featured in the forum. SALIKA Founding Chairperson Marie R. Marciano moderates.

Ding Reyes
Lead Organizer, Kamayan Forum